Lawless sentenced over oil ship protest

ACTRESS Lucy Lawless and seven fellow Greenpeace protesters have been sentenced to 120 hours of community service after a demonstration on an oil exploration ship at New Zealand's Port Taranaki last February.

Lawless, along with Raoni Hammer, Mike Buchanan, Shayne Comino, Viv Hadlow, Shai Naides, Zach Penman and Ilai Amir, were also ordered to each pay $NZ651 ($A533) in reparations to the port company at their sentencing in New Plymouth District Court on Thursday.

The group spent 77 hours up a 53m-high tower they scaled aboard the Noble Discoverer at the port in February last year. The action protested against Shell's exploration for oil in the Arctic.

In June last year the eight each admitted a charge of being unlawfully on a ship.

The protesters were initially charged with burglary, but pleaded guilty when the lesser charge was laid.

Lawless is best-known for her roles in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess and Spartacus.

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